On August 7, the large-scale industrial documentary “Smart China” jointly created by the Financial Program Center of the China Media Group and the relevant departments of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held its premiere ceremony, and launched in the prime time of the same night on the CCTV Financial Channel (CCTV2). This documentary, a total of 5 episodes, is another excellent work in the field of industrial documentary after the “Big Country” and so on, which presents the process of digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of China’s manufacturing industry in a three-dimensional way, witnessing the profound changes that are taking place in China’s manufacturing industry, and vividly depicting the magnificent picture of Chinese-style modernization.

Under the lens, enterprises in all walks of life do in reality and bravely stand at the top of the tide. Haier became the first enterprise in the documentary, and completed a global order that “many enterprises are discouraged” through the industrial Internet, which witnessed the practice of Haier’s intelligent manufacturing to mass customization transformation, and also reflected the innovative development road explored by China’s intelligent manufacturing under the empowerment of the Kaos industrial Internet platform.

Leading intelligent manufacturing: from mass manufacturing to mass customization

The deep integration of a new generation of information technology and manufacturing industry has caused far-reaching industrial changes, and China’s manufacturing industry has become “good” and “strong” from the past, and is in an important stage of basically realizing industrialization and moving toward a new type of industrialization.

Xin Guobin, Vice minister of Industry and Information technology, said in a speech at the conference on August 7 that the new generation of information technology is booming, and it is accelerating the integration of the whole chain and the whole process of manufacturing. Countries around the world have taken intelligent manufacturing as a breakthrough point and seized the dominance of future competition. China is in an important gateway to further promote new industrialization and achieve a strong manufacturing industry. Accelerating intelligent manufacturing has increasingly become an important magic weapon for transforming and upgrading traditional industries, a source of vitality for cultivating and expanding new industries, and an important engine for leading and driving high-quality economic development.

In recent years, the output value of China’s intelligent manufacturing industry has maintained a growth trend, breaking 3 trillion yuan in 2022, an increase of 14.9%. At the same time, nearly 8,000 digital workshops and smart factories have been built around the country, and new scenarios, new schemes and new models of intelligent manufacturing have been emerging.

The release of the large-scale industrial documentary “Intelligent Manufacturing China” allows people to follow the camera into China’s intelligent manufacturing demonstration factory, recording this major change affecting China’s industrial pattern and the division of labor of the global industrial chain, but also see the vivid story of Chinese enterprises to explore and practice intelligent manufacturing.

A high-end home appliance retailer in Thailand placed a special order, only two requirements, a different washing machine, four months delivery, the first order of only 500 units.

The order is so small and the requirements are so demanding that many companies are discouraged, but Haier quickly accepted the order. As far away as the factory in Qingdao, various units began to respond on the platform. The design team analyzed the living habits of Southeast Asian families on the big data platform, and captured three keywords: summer cool, more than 10 kilograms, dark color, and only 30 days to determine the design of the new washing machine. The first orders ended up rolling off the line early, selling for more than three times the local average price.

It is this kind of “people have no ability” that makes Haier the only industry enterprise under the lens of “Intelligent China”.

Seemingly just a response to an order, behind it is the transformation of mass manufacturing to mass customization. Haier began to explore in 2005, built the first connected factory in 2012, and now has six “lighthouse factories” and one “sustainable lighthouse factory”, becoming the first enterprise in China to explore the transformation from large-scale manufacturing to mass customization, breaking the bottleneck of traditional manufacturing must mass production.

At present, on the production line of Haier’s washing machine Interconnection factory in Qingdao, 136 different models of washing machines can be produced at the same time, the inner diameter of the mini model is only 345 mm, and the largest barrel diameter is more than 600 mm, and an average of 18 seconds has a washing machine off the line.

As the first batch of enterprises to explore intelligent manufacturing in China, Haier’s innovation practice is not the first time to be “seen”, last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the first batch of national “digital navigation” demonstration list, Haier ranked first among 30 enterprises, becoming the benchmark of digital navigation enterprises.